‘I think I was the only feis mother who was a man’ – Derry's Eamonn Lynch

Author and playwright Eamonn Lynch’s affinity with Feis Dhoire Cholmcille may have begun with his participation as an Irish dancer, but the writer also strongly asserts that the cultural institution later became both an inspiration and a valuable frame of reference for his entry into the literary world.

“My association began when my mum sent us to Irish dancing. There were no volunteers from the boys in the family anyway. There were six boys and two girls in our family. There are now three generations of my family who have been competitors at the feis – me, my daughter and my granddaughter and I’m 71-years-old now.

“My recollection is that four of us ended up as dancers. Well, three of them were dancers, and then there was me. That might be a better way of putting it,” Eamon laughed.

He continued: “Our teacher was the late Marie Barrett. I would say I was about five when I began in the Owen Roe Hall over the banking, because I lived in Bishop Street. I probably started around 1958. That was where I was taught to dance. I’m not sure how much I learned. At that age, I would have rather been out playing football, but those were the days when children did what they were told under great threat. So, we persevered at it, and I stayed at dancing up until I was about 13 or 14. So I stopped somewhere around 1966 or 1967.

Good team dancer

“I think I hold the record for never winning an individual medal at any feis but I suppose I was what was known as a good team dancer. I fitted in and I won plenty of medals and at Derry Feis. We had a good eight-hand team, and we won there on a number of occasions against some very good Brendan DeGlinn and Mary McLaughlin teams.

“The venues would have been both the Guildhall and St Columb’s Hall then. In fact, they were the only two venues. The Guildhall would have been where our eight-hand team competed, but the four-hand would have been in St Columb’s Hall. I mentioned others in my family earlier. My sister Alice was a very good dancer, and she won the Junior Girls Derry championship, and my sister Mary danced as well, and my brother Pat was a very good dancer. Around that time, Pat and Manus Harley would have been the two best boy dancers around.”

Asked if he had a favourite feis venue, Eamonn continued: “Well, strangely, my favourite venue was St Columb’s Hall. And it wasn’t only for dancing, because I had my first date on the steps of St Columb’s Hall when I was about the age of 14. In my book ‘Get That Boy Home’, I labour in chapter four on that story. And yet, I can only cover my very moderate achievements, and I suppose I thought that meeting my first girlfriend there was probably my greatest accomplishment.

“However, there’s a photo of our winning eight-hand team and by the looks of it I’d say we were under 12. I look at the photo with great fondness and I see Liam Wray and Alana Burke who were devastated by Bloody Sunday. So, I think about the feis and realise that I made lasting friendships. There are people that I danced with that I’m friendly with today. Liam and I met recently to visit a friend in hospital. That all started at the feis. Even after I stopped dancing, I still went to the feis because you knew people. And it was great for young boys and young girls to meet. It wasn’t like today’s world, there weren’t a lot of venues we could go to. We used to often meet at the feis up until I was about 16. I loved watching the dancing and still do.”

It is often said that the key to successful writing is to concentrate on topics and themes that you know. So, the deep mine of memories accumulated in those formative years at Derry Feis have now become a rich source of content for Eamonn’s work as a writer – a fact that he is only too willing to gratefully acknowledge.

“I couldn’t have written my book without involving Derry Feis and even in my play ‘The Derry Yank’, there’s also a very strong reference to Irish dancing,” said Eamonn.

Write what you know

As with most institutions that have managed to secure incredible longevity, their success often hinges on intergenerational involvement from families and in that respect, Derry Feis is no different to other long-running cultural festivals.

Eamonn Lynch said: “Next after me was my daughter Emma who also went to dancing. Her mum wasn’t into it, so my claim to fame is I think I am the only feis mother who was a man. I took her to all the feiseanna and got help to put on her wig because by that time it had transcended into wee girls getting wringlets in their hair, they ended up with wigs. Emma was a really good dancer and won everywhere she went. She was second in one of her Ulster dances and was placed in the All Ireland championship, so she was up there with the good ones. It was such a joy watching that. I got such a buzz out of that. People used to wonder why I was going every Sunday to all sorts of places with Emma. But it was absolutely a labour of love and a lovely experience.

“Then came my granddaughter Penny, who won at Derry Feis on her very first outing last year in her Primary One Poem which was called ‘I Wasn’t Really Running’. I mean to be there as a grandparent to watch her. I just got such a buzz. I mean taking Emma now taking Penny, these are things that you just don’t forget. People have a lot of things that they’ll remember in their lives, but these are things for me that are just absolute treasures – things that make life worth living in many ways. Sometimes we chase moonbeams and don’t realise that the answer is on the sofa across the room. I just love the fact that I was around to see this, and I am trying to instill into her, just like I did with Emma, not to expect to win every time. Penny has also now begun Irish dancing”.

Immense cultural impact

As someone now immersed in the writing and wider cultural scene in Derry and the wider North West, Eamonn Lynch contends that the impact and influence of the feis on the arts has been “immense”.

“It’s no mystery that the feis has been around since 1922. It started around partition and as I understand it, it came about as a response to that. Culturally, I think it’s an amazing way to collectively bring young people into a sense of their Irishness, of their culture, of their history and their dignity – all of those lovely things that can represent feeling good about your country. It’s been crucial, and a lot of my grounding as a young nationalist was instilled in places like Derry Feis and probably with the Christian Brothers too, who when they weren’t beating us did teach us a few songs!

“It’s an immense contributor to a sense of Irishness for people from my age and upwards. Certainly, I have never ever lost it. And, I would say that’s where I first got it as well and that’s an important thing for me to say. It was where I first became aware, because bear in mind, the word in front of dancing is Irish – it’s Irish dancing.

“I couldn’t say enough about how much it has fed into my way of thinking and how that developed over the years”.

Feis Dhoire Cholmcille takes place this year from April 22 – 25. Details of competitions and how to enter can be found at https://www.derryfeis.com